


jackets and boys

by heart_of_ice



Category: Scorpion (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, F/M, i wrote this when i couldn't even keep my eyes open, it went from party to coffee shop, so it could be really terrible
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-12
Updated: 2016-01-16
Packaged: 2018-05-13 07:44:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5700541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heart_of_ice/pseuds/heart_of_ice
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>happy just wants to get her jacket and there's a guy offering to breakdance. this was not what she signed up for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. a case of mistake identity

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by a prompt i saw on my dash: i took ur jacket home from the store bc we have the same one and wow u smell good and u have some strange shit in ur pockets (except it's a party not a store)
> 
> sadly, i don't own scorpion.

Happy didn’t really want to be dealing with any more people tonight. But there’s a man leaning against the closet door, standing between her and falling into her bed. He watches her as she comes to a stop in front of him, hands on her hips, glaring at him. 

 

She raises an eyebrow. 

 

He raises a shoulder. 

 

“Can you move?” she asks, reigning in her frustration. She can do one more human interaction. 

 

“Sure,” he says and Happy thanks the universe for being kind. “Believe it or not, I can move.”

 

Happy looks around her like this is a joke and she’s being filmed and people are watching. But the hallway is surprisingly quiet, music and a dull roar from the crowd barely creeps in from the backyard. 

 

“What do you wanna see? Moonwalk? Breakdance?” He looks incredibly willing to show her.

 

She rolls her eyes - at this clown showcasing his tricks and the thought that she could’ve easily have just said _no, I’m gonna stay in tonight_. “Moonwalk. Away from the door,” she says through her teeth. 

 

He shakes his head, his lips turning up in a half smirk. She could’ve wiped that smirk right off of his scruffy face were she not absolutely tired and just wanted to go home. “‘Fraid i can’t do that,” he says, “I’ve been put on coat duty and all coats must come and go through me.”

 

She throws her hands weakly in the air. She hadn’t spent two minutes with him and already he was draining her. “Alright,” she sighs because _please_ , _just_ _let_ _her_ _get_ _home_ , “okay, will you get my jacket for me then?”

 

“And here I was thinking you were here for the conversation,” he remarks, looking at her with chocolate eyes. 

 

Under the dim hallway light, Happy would dare say that he looks cute. Just a little. And only because her eyelids feel like weights. And it doesn’t help that he’s finally opening the door and she’s pretty sure at this point she’ll call a hammer cute. 

 

He disappears into the closet, the coats swallowing him whole. Happy holds the door open and he goes through the coats and jackets and every two seconds, Happy murmurs no. Until she spots hers between a brown leather jacket and a long winter coat.

 

“There,” she says, pointing to it. 

 

He pulls it out in two ungraceful tugs, the hanger clattering to the ground. 

 

“Here you are,” he says and she takes it from his fingertips. 

 

“Alright, Toby, you set to go back in?” 

 

The voice startles Happy - her ears had managed to drown out the sounds of the pop song blaring outside that she hadn’t really noticed the silence in the hallway. The man smiles at Happy before jerking his head in the direction of the party. 

 

 _Toby_ watches Happy shrug on her jacket and Happy watches him back, raising her chin a little higher. 

 

“Cool jacket,” Toby says, yet to take one step towards his friend. 

 

His friend groans. “You've got the exact same one. Toby, quit bothering her.”

 

At least Toby has the decency to smile sheepishly before he steps away from her. “Also, I'm not actually in charge of the coats.”

 

“Nice to meet you!” he exclaims, his voice barely reaching Happy before he's dragged around the corner.


	2. walk me home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> so in short, the jacket's an impostor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is super short and super not edited

Happy steps out into the cold night, coughing as she walks through a group of burners. She leaves the sound of music and dull roar of the people behind her because, _finally_ , she was on her way home to a warm bed. She pulls her jacket around her, arms crossed, as she set out on the long walk home. Three claps for agreeing to hitch a ride with her friends earlier tonight. 

 

She walks a little faster and avoids dark lit lanes. She’s tough but she’s not stupid. 

 

The night clears her mind, delicately removing her worrisome thoughts. Like ‘Was there leftovers?’, ‘How long will it take to undress?’ and ‘Do I actually need to undress?’. Happy walks with a lightness in her chest, the night air does that to her - she lets her feet guide her home. 

 

It’s a good night. She can feel it in her tired bones. 

 

She doesn’t know how long she’s walked when she realises that she should probably let her friends know where she is. She sends a quick message and as she goes to put the phone in the pocket, she snatches her hand out just as quickly. Her hand brushes against something stiff and pointy. She pulls out a folded up piece of paper. It’s a page ripped out of a notebook and has been scribbled on with messy handwriting; a doctor’s handwriting. 

 

She's certain she would recognise her writing if she saw it. And this, most certainly, was _not_ hers. So unless this was her grocery list that she doesn't remember writing, then the jacket she was wearing -

 

Happy looks down at the jacket. It _looks_ like her jacket. It _feels_ like her jacket. But. She brings up the sleeve to her nose, the wind suddenly clearing her senses, and takes a sniff. 

 

No. No, no, _no_. The jacket smells like…like _man_. Like minty toothpaste and aftershave. The smell holds no resemblance to the smell of grease that seemed to be on all of her clothes. 

 

Only then does Happy notice all of the things that she had overlooked back in that dim hallway. Things that so clearly shows that this is not her jacket. The shoulders are way too big, the sleeves fall past her wrists, the hem isn’t fraying considering she’s always shimmying under cars and the smell - it fills her nose with every breath. 

 

She looks back behind her as though she can see the house and somehow, go back to find her own jacket. But all she sees is a dark street and and there is not a hint of a pop melody in the wind. Yeah, this was definitely going to have to wait for the morning. 

 

She tries to read what the writing on the paper says but under the yellow street lights, it just makes her head throb. She makes a note to read it in the morning as she opens her front door, thanking the universe for the little bit of mercy it’s given for having her keys in the pocket of her jeans. She barely manages to take off her boots before she crawls into bed. 

 

All Happy wants to do now is go to sleep, every nerve in her body is tired from the night. As she rolls over, still in the jacket, several things poke into her side. 

 

“Seriously,” she groans as she sticks her hands in the pockets and empties out its contents onto the bed. 

 

The folded piece of paper, four pens, a stick of gum, some change, and lint. And absolutely no sign of who the jacket belongs to. 

 

She sweeps it all to one side of the bed and lets her heavy head fall on the pillow. 

 

Nestled under the covers, sleep becomes far too hard to fight. The last thing she remembers is curling up in the jacket. And the night is filled with dreams of brown eyes, scruffy cheeks and the refreshing smell of aftershave.


	3. a stab in the dark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it's foolish, really. but it's something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just lots of happy talking :)

Happy wakes up surprisingly warm and makes no move to remove the jacket that she’s slept in, burrowing further under the covers. She reaches for the piece of paper, yawning as she unfolds it above her. The handwriting doesn’t look as messy in the daylight: full of undotted i’s, slanting t’s and flicks on all the m’s and n’s. It looks like it’s been written by a man. And it looks like the kind of writing that prescriptions are written in. 

 

She sits upright, blinking against the bright daylight. How in the world was she supposed to track down the owner of the jacket and get hers back?

 

She shrugs off the jacket and runs her finger along the inside seam, catching the slight bump that marks the hidden pocket. 

 

 _So, he’s clever_ , she thinks as she finds a ring and a note. Not everyone knows it's there. Hell, it took Happy two months of owning hers before realising and that's saying something.

 

She holds the ring between two fingers and watches the light split on the diamond before putting it back in its home, along with the note. Happy picks up the first piece of paper, feeling a heavy sensation in her stomach at the thought that she might not get her jacket back. Sure, she can buy another, or keep the one beside her but she’s become fond of that jacket. 

 

Then, words, words said so casually she might have forgotten them crosses her mind. _Y_ _ou’ve got the exact same one_. It’s foolish, really. It might not mean - what was his name? Tony? _T_ _oby_ \- was wearing it that night. Toby’s friend could’ve been referring to the same jacket hanging in his wardrobe at home. 

 

But it’s something. 

 

Sighing, Happy steps into the shower to clear her head and to wash away the night before. 

 

But, Toby’s a complete stranger, she thinks, and there’s no way to find him from a piece of scribbled on paper and a couple of pens and gum. She’ll find a way, she tells herself as she tips her head back to rinse the shampoo. She always finds a way. 

 

The jacket and the mess beside it silently watch her as she gets changed into a tank top and jeans. “Alright,” she says under her breath as she pulls on her boots, “I’ll get you home.” 

 

She works on putting all the bits and pieces back in the pockets before she works on finding out who the owner of the jacket is. 

 

It takes her about half an hour because everyone’s hungover or asleep. Eventually, she wakes one of them up with her constant dialling. 

 

“Good morning,” Happy greets around the toast she was chewing. 

 

“It’s not a good morning. I can’t feel my face.” 

 

Happy lets out a laugh. “Well, at least you can speak. I have questions and I need answers.”

 

“Happy, it’s way too early for this. Can I call you back?”

 

“Don’t you dare,” she says slowly. “I promise to be quick.”

 

“Fine.” A long pause and a series of morning stretch noises comes through the speaker. “Shoot.”

 

“Okay, so last night, I picked up a guy’s jacket and I think I know who it belongs to but I don’t know how to reach him.”

 

“Why did you take his jacket?”

 

“Because it looked like mine!” Happy protests.

 

“So who do you think it belongs to?”

 

Happy sighs. Here goes absolutely nothing. “A guy called Toby. I think. I hope.”

 

“Looks like?”

 

Happy stands up, rolling her eyes to the ceiling and paces across her living room. “A man. Brown eyes. Scruff. Like a head taller than me.”

 

“Very descriptive.”

 

“It was dark alright and I wasn’t really interested in making friends,” Happy retorts and glares at the jacket draped over the back of her sofa. “He might be a doctor, I don’t know. Or a writer, there were four pens in his pockets. Who carries that many pens?”

 

What the hell, this was going nowhere. She should just admit defeat and move on. 

 

Her friend yawns. “Doctor? Do the pens have anything written on them?” Happy fishes out the four pens. “A lot of institutions give out pens.” Standard. “He might go to one of those if you find one.” 

 

“Harvard,” Happy says, turning over three of the pens and which all have the words _H_ _arvard University_ along the side. 

 

“Harvard? I can’t help you, Happy,” her friend says. “But I know someone who knows someone who knows people who went to Harvard. Maybe they’ll know this Toby.”

 

It takes another twenty minutes before someone even recognises the name _T_ _oby_. She’s forgotten how many times she’s said the name this morning. Somewhere between the first phone call and now, someone who used to have classes with him had confirmed that Toby is a doctor. Psychiatrist, to be specific. 

 

“Hello?” Toby’s roommate, Happy assumes. 

 

 _Please, please let this be the last phone call_. “I was wondering if Toby was there.”

 

“No, sorry, he’s not.” A long silence that Happy doesn’t interrupt. “I think he’s working at The Bean this morning.” Another silence. “Actually, his shift probably just started.”

 

Happy manages to end the call with a curt, “Thank you”, before swiping the jacket off of the sofa, and getting in her truck.


	4. two fools in love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> all it took was coffee and a couple of paper clips.

Happy holds her head in her hands, elbows on the steering wheel. Just get in and get out. She grabs the jacket before heading towards the cafe. 

 

A chirpy bell announces her arrival as she stalks to the front counter, looking for this _Toby_. 

 

“Hi,” a worker says as he stands up from behind the counter. “What can I get you?”

 

Happy stares at him. He's in the standard white shirt, black pants uniform and on the name tag - Toby. So this is him. The scruff’s there, the brown eyes, the energy. Why is he so awake at nine in the morning? He stares back, tilting his head to the side.  

 

“What would you like to order?” he repeats, smiling at her. 

 

“My jacket,” she says, feeling every bit awkward - which she rarely feels. He might not even have it, what was she doing. She clears her throat as Toby keeps his eyes on her. “You gave me the wrong one.”

 

It takes him a moment before he grins and points at her. “You’re the girl from last night,” he says and Happy tries not to narrow her eyes because he’s making her sound like a one night stand. “I wondered why my jacket had shrunk.” 

 

“I’m not that small,” she retorts, straightening her back and lifting her shoulders. 

 

He notices and just gives her a smirk. He’s still a head taller than she is. “You are. But it’s cute.”

 

“I’m not cute,” she snarls. And the wink he sends her way says, _you kind of really are_. “Look, can I just have my jacket?”

 

“No, can do,” he replies, smiling at a customer behind her and holding up his hand as to say, _won’t be long, sorry_. “It’s in the back and I can’t leave the till. If you don’t mind, you can grab a coffee and wait for my break.”

 

She rolls her eyes. Heavens help her, it sounds like she’s picking him up for a date. But she orders a black nevertheless and sits in a corner table, looking out the window wishing for time to hurry up. 

 

An hour into the waiting game, her coffee cup's been sitting empty in front of her and her leg's started bouncing. She's contemplating walking out the door but a girl - brown hair in a far neater ponytail than Happy's - takes her cup and slides a steaming mug of coffee in front of her. 

 

She grabs the girl's attention before she walks away. "Uh, you have the wrong table," she says, even though her throat is itching to down the hot liquid. "I didn't order this."

 

The girl - Paige, written on her name tag - just smiles. "I just bring out what he puts through," she replies. 

 

Paige points to Toby behind the counter, who's smiling at a customer. Then, he moves his gaze over to Happy in the corner, and seeing the mug in front of her, gives her a thumbs up. Happy doesn't know what to do with her hands but Paige answers for her, giving him a thumbs up back. Content, he goes back to attending to the orders. 

 

After the lunch break rush, Toby finally leaves the till and heads into the back, motioning for her to follow. "Sorry you were waiting so long. I didn't realise that my break wasn't for another four hours when I asked you to wait." He leads her through a door that very clearly says _employees only_  and they keeps walking until they hit the staff lockers. "Then, you started doing that thing with your leg and you kept looking at the door. And those -"

 

He clamps his mouth shut as his voice echoes in the empty room. He gives her a tight smile, opening his locker. 

 

“So,” he says, looking up at her as he opens a brown leather messenger bag. 

 

Happy doesn’t respond. 

 

“You really came all this way for a jacket, huh. How’d you find me anyway?”

 

“A lot of phone calls.”

 

He finally pulls out her jacket and along with it, paper, pens and paper clips. 

 

Happy frowns at all his things on the floor. He tosses her jacket towards her as he crouches down to pick up all of his things. “Not exactly the most organised person.”

 

Happy resists the urge to say, _yeah, I can see that_. “You always carry these?” 

 

He looks up from where he’s struggling to pick up a paper clip from the floor. She holds his gaze. “Uh, yeah. I just acquire them, I guess. From my job and stuff.” 

 

 _As a doctor_ , is what they’re both thinking. She rolls her shoulders back, catching the silver on her shoe.

 

There’s a paper clip on her boot and he hesitantly picks it off, looking up at her and _what the hell_. Happy steps away and ignores the sudden spinning of her head at the sight of Toby on his knees in front of her. There’s a thousand sarcastic remarks on the tip of her tongue but she can’t quite manage to say any of them. 

 

 _What the hell what the hell what the hell_ , she repeats to herself as her heart races as Toby finally stands up.

 

“Sorry about that,” he says, putting his bag back in the locker. She shrugs and holds his jacket out to him, after double checking that it was his and not hers. 

 

“Okay,” she mumbles before heading back the way they came. “Thanks.”

 

“Hey,” Toby calls after her. 

 

She looks back at him over her shoulder. He’s watching her. 

 

“I didn’t get your name,” he says. 

 

And she knows she shouldn’t. Because there’s a ring in the secret pocket of his jacket and he’s a doctor and she works in a car shop, but she says it anyway. Because her toes are tingling and…and it’s been a while since her heart had beat that hard. 

 

“Happy.”

 

Toby’s smile splits his face in half. “Toby,” he replies, her name like honey on his tongue. “It’s nice to meet you.”

 

 Happy can’t help her own small smile as she heads out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, that was the last part to this short and (hopefully) sweet AU fic. Also, I had to have Paige somewhere in there because she's captain of the ship. 
> 
> I hope you liked this - and thank you for reading this little piece of brain fart. x

**Author's Note:**

> hope you have a good day today! thank you for reading xx


End file.
